YouTube Got Hacked

YouTube’s most popular video, “Despacito” by Luis Fonsy & Daddy Yankee, got hacked and defaced. Even tho hack attacks tend to target most valuable data or swipe digital funds, in this case the latest attack seems like it was just for laughs. Hackers going by the names of Prosox and Kuroi’sh, managed to access to the Despacito music video, the most watched video on YouTube ever, and changed its thumbnail image with the images of guys in masks, holding guns, taken from the Netflix show “Casa de Papel”.

Videos from other artists also got an unwanted change of thumbnail image, such as songs by Shakira, Selena Gomez, Drake, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift. There is no clear information to how the hackers gained access to the videos, but one of them claimed on Twitter that they used a “script” to alter the video titles with the words “Free Palestine” written underneath. "It's just for fun, I just use [the] script 'youtube-change-title-video' and I write 'hacked' don't judge me I love YouTube, " said hacker Prosox. The actual content of the videos remain unadjusted, but the hackers did manage to change the titles and the cover image before uploading the video to the artists' Vevo YouTube accounts.

A spokesperson for YouTube acknowledged the incident in a statement to the Daily Dot but stopped short of calling it a security breach. The company claims a limited number of Vevo videos were affected. “After seeing unusual upload activity on a handful of VEVO channels, we worked quickly with our partner to disable access while they investigate the issue, ” YouTube wrote. A spokesperson at Vevo confirmed the cyberattack in a statement to the Daily Dot. The video-hosting site says it’s still recovering from the hack and investigating its source. “Vevo can confirm that a number of videos in its catalogue were subject to a security breach today, which has now been contained. We are working to reinstate all videos affected and our catalogue to be restored to full working order. We are continuing to investigate the source of the breach, ” Vevo wrote.

In Todays’ world obsessed with fake news, having unwanted and unexpected tweaks to popular videos and on a popular website such as YouTube, can be very dangerous way of spreading fake information or to just simply mess with people’s minds.